Revelation 12:7

War in Heaven

12:7 Then ¹  war broke out in heaven: Michael ²  and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.

Revelation 13:6-7

13:6 So ³  the beast ⁴  opened his mouth to blaspheme against God – to blaspheme both his name and his dwelling place, ⁵  that is, those who dwell in heaven. 13:7 The beast ⁶  was permitted to go to war against the saints and conquer them. ⁷  He was given ruling authority ⁸  over every tribe, people, ⁹  language, and nation,

Revelation 18:20

18:20 (Rejoice over her, O heaven,

and you saints and apostles and prophets,

for God has pronounced judgment ¹⁰  against her on your behalf!) ¹¹ 

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¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

² sn The archangel Michael had a special role in protecting the nation of Israel in the OT (Dan 10:13, 21; 12:1; see also Jude 9).

³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the permission granted to the beast.

⁴ tn Grk “he” (or “it”); the referent (the beast) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tc The reading “and his dwelling place” does not occur in codex C, but its omission is probably due to scribal oversight since the phrase has the same ending as the phrase before it, i.e., they both end in “his” (αὐτοῦ, autou). This is similar to the mistake this scribe made in 12:14 with the omission of the reading “and half a time” (καὶ ἥμισυ καιροῦ, kai {hmisu kairou).

⁶ tn Grk “and it was given to him to go to war.” Here the passive construction has been simplified, the referent (the beast) has been specified for clarity, and καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁷ tc Many mss omit the phrase “it was given to make war with the saints and to overcome them” (Ì⁴⁷ A C 2053 Ï^A sa). It is, however, found in Ì^115vid א 051 1006 (1611) 1841 (1854) 2329 2344 2351 (Ï^K) lat sy^ph,(h) bo. Although the ms evidence is somewhat in favor of the shorter reading, the support of ̹¹⁵ (a recently-discovered ms) for the longer reading balances things out. Normally, the shorter reading should be given preference. However, in an instance in which homoioteleuton could play a role, caution must be exercised. In this passage, accidental omission is quite likely. That this could have happened seems apparent from the two occurrences of the identical phrase “and it was given to him” (καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ, kai edoqh autw) in v. 7. The scribe’s eye skipped over the first καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ and went to the second, hence creating an accidental omission of eleven words.

⁸ tn For the translation “ruling authority” for ἐξουσία (exousia) see L&N 37.35.

⁹ tn Grk “and people,” but καί (kai) has not been translated here or before the following term since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

¹⁰ tn On the phrase “pronounced judgment” BDAG 567 s.v. κρίμα 4.b states, “The OT is the source of the expr. κρίνειν τὸ κρ. (cp. Zech 7:9; 8:16; Ezk 44:24) ἔκρινεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ κρίμα ὑμῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς God has pronounced judgment for you against her or God has pronounced on her the judgment she wished to impose on you (HHoltzmann, Hdb. 1893 ad loc.) Rv 18:20.”

¹¹ tn Grk “God has judged a judgment of you of her.” Verse 20 is set in parentheses because in it the saints, etc. are addressed directly in the second person.

sn This verse forms a parenthetical aside in the narrative.